History Extra podcast How the Cold War made the modern world
27 snips
Sep 16, 2025 
Vladislav Zubok, a Professor of International History at LSE and Cold War expert, discusses the ideological complexities of the Cold War. He reveals that Americans were often more ideological than Soviets. Zubok delves into how decolonization acted as 'nuclear fuel' for global tensions and examines Gorbachev's transformative impact on Eastern Europe. He also highlights how the Cold War's legacy influences today's geopolitical landscape, marked more by trade and diplomacy than ideological conflict.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Growing Up Inside Soviet Certainty
- Vladislav Zubok describes growing up in Moscow under Soviet ideological certainty and later becoming disillusioned as a student.
- He frames the early Cold War as a reaction to WWII's destructiveness and a yearning for peace amid fear of indiscriminate power.
America As The Ideological Protagonist
- Zubok argues Americans were more ideological than Soviets because the US framed its beliefs as 'natural' rather than ideology.
- He concludes the main ideological protagonist of the Cold War was American liberal nationalism, not Soviet communism.
The Term 'Cold War' Is Western-Framed
- The phrase 'Cold War' came mainly from Western publicists and historians, not Soviet discourse, where 'geopolitics' was politically tainted.
- Zubok says the label shaped popular frameworks but obscured the many specific, varied conflicts inside the period.
